Hillsboro agrees to $2,500 fine for sand spill

One year after a federal order aborted an off-shore dredging operation that spilled sand on endangered reefs, the state assessed the town of Hillsboro Beach a fine of $2,500 to resolve the violations.

"Assessing the $2,500 penalty is the least they can possibly do," explained Penny Cutt, the environmental permitting regional manager for the sand dredging project that was meant to rebuild the town's eroded shoreline.

The reason for the fine: A Coastal Systems International dredging operation that was pumping offshore sand onto the beach developed a rupture and spilled sand onto the reef.

The sand, dredged from a sand pit at sea, was fed through a pipe in the water and leading to the beach. At some point, a spot in the pipeline became compromised and the sand pumped directly into the sea.

Before the problem was discovered, the sand spill had covered hard bottom and some corals.

When a water sample was taken from the center of the sand plume, the turbidity of the water was "off the charts," according to resident John Carlson.

That assessment was confirmed last April by Commissioner Javier Garcia. Garcia told town officials last April that he dove near the second reef just after the spill and could not see the top of his hand.

A federal order shut the dredging operation down completely and kept it halted until divers, working with tools like small vacuum cleaners, sucked between 1,000 and 1,500 cubic yards of sand from the ocean's hard bottom.

The cleaning operation took days, and when it was done, the town still faced the penalty. Cutt said at the time there was no typical fine, but that it was based on a matrix.

Last week, she conceded that the penalty might reflect something other than the matrix.